Banditry during and after the First World War in Belgium
The occupation gave birth to a true wave of banditry that persisted in Belgian rural areas until the early nineteen-twenties.The contrast between the systematic impoverishment of large strata of the urban and industrial population and the relative wealth of the rural population formed a breeding ground for banditry. However, the rise of violent robberies was only possible due the profound disintegration of state authority during the occupation. The analysis of the origins of banditry forms the first branch of this contribution.
After the war, the state had great difficulty to re-establish its monopoly on the use of violence. Analysis of the state repression of banditry forms the second branch of this contribution.

@inproceedings{1087741,
abstract = {Banditry during and after the First World War in Belgium
The occupation gave birth to a true wave of banditry that persisted in Belgian rural areas until the early nineteen-twenties.The contrast between the systematic impoverishment of large strata of the urban and industrial population and the relative wealth of the rural population formed a breeding ground for banditry. However, the rise of violent robberies was only possible due the profound disintegration of state authority during the occupation. The analysis of the origins of banditry forms the first branch of this contribution.
After the war, the state had great difficulty to re-establish its monopoly on the use of violence. Analysis of the state repression of banditry forms the second branch of this contribution.},
author = {Vrints, Antoon and Rousseaux, Xavier},
booktitle = {Quand les canons se taisent - En toen zwegen de kanonnen - When the Guns fall Silent. Actes du colloque international organis{\'e} par les Archives de l{\textquoteright}{\'E}tat et le Mus{\'e}e royal de l{\textquoteright}Arm{\'e}e et d{\textquoteright}Histoire militaire},
editor = {Tallier, Pierre-Alain and Nefors, P.},
isbn = {978 90 5746 284 9},
keyword = {Belgium,world war I,banditry},
language = {fre},
location = {Brussels, BELGIUM},
pages = {271--303},
publisher = {Algemeen Rijksarchief},
title = {La r{\'e}pression {\'e}tatique d'un ph{\'e}nom{\`e}ne de crise sociale. Le banditisme pendant et apr{\`e}s la Premi{\`e}re Guerre Mondiale en Belgique},
volume = {18},
year = {2010},
}